79. He appeals to the feelings of his readers, who are moved by the same passions now as in the past.
80-4. These ruins are Earth’s returns, the only result of centuries of folly, noise and sin. In contrast with this is Love, which endures.
This poem appears in Byron’s Don Juan. It is supposed to be sung by a wandering Greek minstrel during the marriage feast of the hero and heroine of the story; but it is a direct expression of Byron’s own feelings on the subject of Greek freedom.
2. Sappho. A lyric poetess who was born on the island of Lesbos about 625 B.C.
burning. In reference to the passion in her poems and songs.
4. According to myth, Leda, who had supplanted Juno in the affections of Jupiter, was forced to flee from heaven to escape the wrath of Juno. Neptune took pity on her and raised the Island of Delos out of the sea in order to afford her a shelter. Here Phoebus and Diana, the twin children of Jupiter and Leda, were born.
7. The Scian and the Teian muse. The island of Chios (Scio) was said to be the birthplace of Homer, and the town of Teos, in Asia Minor, was the birthplace of the poet Anacreon.
11. farther west. In America.